


Mamihlanpinatapei

by Yeomanrand



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Where_no_woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-12
Updated: 2010-11-12
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeomanrand/pseuds/Yeomanrand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"How am I to observe this <em>mamihlanpinatapei</em> if I do not see what you are seeing?"</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Mamihlanpinatapei

**Author's Note:**

  * For [circ_bamboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/circ_bamboo/gifts).



"I'm just stating a fact," Nyota said, sliding into place at the table in the _Enterprise_ mess with her tray; Spock settled across from her. "There was an early twenty-first century writer who said that English didn't just borrow words, 'on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary'. And Standard is exactly the same; it's just not limited to Earthbound languages."

"And yet you feel it lacks useful terms."

"Of course it does! We still have to go back to German to come up with a way to express the gleeful feeling humans get when they see someone else's misery."

"Something that is completely illogical," he observed. She smirked at him.

"Which is why it is a _human_ trait, and not a Vulcan one," she said. "But there are other words missing, too, not all of them negative. We go back to French for that moment when you come up with a smart comeback far too late. Or Tshiluba for someone who is _Ilunga_ , which can't really _be_ fully translated into Standard. Vulcan _t'hy'la_ which translates into standard as 'beloved,' and you and I know that's barely accurate. Andorian for third-gender-specific honorable behavior within the family. Or... _mamihlanpinatapei_ ," she said, trailing off as she watched Dr. McCoy look up at Janice Rand, the slight twitch of his cheek, the way her fingertips went up almost to her beehive before she turned to Kirk, her attention still visibly on the doctor.

"What has drawn your focus, Nyota?" Spock asked, turning to follow her gaze.

"Don't stare, Spock."

"How am I to observe this _mamihlanpinatapei_ if I do not see what you are seeing?" He frowned, slightly, turning a bit more toward her. "I see the Doctor, the Captain, and Yeoman Rand; what are you seeing that I am not?"

"Leonard and Janice desire each other," she said; he looked back at them with a far subtler shift in his body. Rand was accepting the padd she'd brought down from the Captain, but she glanced over at McCoy again just as he looked up. He was grimacing at something Kirk had said, but he only had eyes for Rand. "But they're too afraid to do anything about it."

"You can tell all of this from just a look?"

She smiled, and nudged his calf with the toe of her boot beneath the steel table.

"How much can you tell about me from 'just a look'?"

He considered a moment, then nodded. "I am corrected. And this is the meaning of _mamihlanpinatapei_? To want, but to be afraid?"

"Not precisely. _Mamihlapintapei_ is the look exchanged by two people who feel that way."

"And you feel not having a word of its own for this is a flaw in Standard?" His eyebrows twitched downward and in; she idly wondered if there was a word in any language for _confused, but unwilling to show it_. "I am certain neither Vulcan, Romulan, nor Andorian have such a word, though the rules of tlhIngan Hol would probably allow for construction of such a term."

"Not a flaw, exactly;" she said, "we could hardly have a word for everything that happens everywhere."

She watched Rand walking out of the room, head held high but her hands so tight on the padd Nyota could see the yellow of bone through her skin.

"It would make recounting moments like this much easier, though, when I'm trying to find out from Leonard why he's being such an idiot."

Spock sighed, and muttered something into his soup. Nyota laughed.

" _Yenta_ , Spock. The word you're looking for is _yenta_."

**Author's Note:**

> Nyota is quoting James Nicoll.


End file.
